The recently published EU pharmaceutical revision aims to improve medicines affordability, accessibility, and availability in Europe. The secure supply of essential medicines is the foundation to achieve these goals.

To increase open strategic autonomy in healthcare, Medicines for Europe proposes a Medicines Security Act, with dedicated targeted actions to bolster medicines manufacturing while preventing medicine shortages. These measures include:

• Addressing the root causes of shortages with EU legal guidance on medicines procurement.
• Access to European recovery and resilience funds for the off-patent medicines and API manufacturing sector.
• Support for the green and digital transformation.

Medicines for Europe members deliver equitable and timely access to medicines for all EU patients, accounting for over 70% of dispensed medicines in Europe and covering 80% of therapy areas. Yet more can be done to increase their use and deliver on the potential access gains. Medicines for Europe calls for:

• Uptake measures to encourage greater access to off-patent medicines.
• A flexible regulatory system that facilitates timely access for patients.
• Support for continuous affordable innovation on existing molecules.

Commenting ahead of an event organised at the European Parliament, Theodore Tryfon, Medicines for Europe Executive Committee member, President of the Panhellenic Union of Pharmaceutical Industries, and co-CEO of ELPEN Group said “We have learned many lessons over the recent years on the role of medicines in a crisis, but also for routine and chronic patient care. Most of these medicines are off patent, so we must take proportionate action to support the sector. Europe has the opportunity to establish forward looking pharmaceutical policies that focus on the value brought to patients and health systems by the investments of the off-patent industry. We can improve supply chain resilience across EU Member States in the context of the recently published EU pharmaceutical legislation by coordinating policy responses that encourage more manufacturing investments within the EU. Our aim should be to work together with all health stakeholders to counterbalance the already dramatic consolidation which has taken place over the past decades, primarily due to one sided cost-containment measures. This will prevent medicines shortages, increase equitable and timely access to medicines for patients and strengthen the manufacturing eco-system in Europe”. 

Stelios Kympouropoulos, Member of European Parliament and Member of European People’s Party said ‘’As a rare disease patient, a doctor and a politician this revision is of utmost importance to me. We are facing a crossroad in the European legislation, a once-in-a-generation opportunity to undertake the first major review of the pharmaceutical legislation since 2004, which will adapt the legislation to the current socioeconomic challenges. In the aftermaths of the Covid-19 pandemic, and in view of the State of Health in the EU, we need to have a future-proof and resilient health system for our European citizens. We need to tackle the shortage of medicines and raw materials and strengthen EU’s independency. In the Parliament we will strike that the revision will find the right balance between supporting competitiveness and innovation and at the same time accelerating the access to medicines all across EU.’’

Medicines for Europe